Lebedyn

The monument to T. Shevchenko

Lebedyn (26,800 residents) is a regional center located on the banks of Vilshanka River. The Right-Bank migrants founded the settlement in 1652. In 1658, Lebedyn, named after the lake near-by, was fortified sotnia town of Sumy regiment. During the Northern War at the end of 1708, there was Peter's the Great headquarters in the town. In 1780, Lebedyn became the district town of Kharkiv gov-emorate and obtained its coat-of-arms. Since then it is a typical Ukrainian remote town of handcrafters, which periodically changed its administrative belonging, but not its status. In 1789, the wooden Church of Resurrection was erected in Lebedyn; it is the only town building of the 18th ?, which survived, though considerably remade. In the second half of the 19th c. other buildings for public worship emerged, which survived until now. The Church of Ascension (1858) with bell tower at the entrance shows the favorite contemporary combination of Classicism, Baroque and local traditions. In the 1890s architect V. Niemkin built the St. Nicholas Church, a wonderful sample of brick style, widespread at the turn of the 19th and 20th c. in Ukraine and Russia. The masters of bricklaying created excellent design of inventive window cornices, arches and other intricate elements, in Lebedyn there was also the Church of the Patronage (second half of the 19th c), which is tumbling down now. The landmarks include the arcade (1847) and the monument to T. Shevchenko in the public garden (1964, sculptor I. Krasnozhon).